15 years later
by thementalist2
Summary: Sequel to 'The New Girl.' Morgan is now 31 and happily married. She's working for the Crime Lab as a CSI. She loves the life she has, but it won't stay happy for long. What criminals will she meet up with? What has happened to her friends now that they are all adults? Will love stay strong, or will it tear couples apart? Slight AU.
1. Life

Sara Sidle-Grissom was sitting at home, cuddling her two year-old-son and one year-old daughter. After completing high school, she traveled to LA and attended a four-year university, earning her masters in Criminology. She was 28 when Grissom popped the question, and she said yes right away. She became pregnant a few months after the wedding.

She saw Catherine, Wendy, Julie, and Morgan often around the city. But Stella was still missing 15 years after her abduction.

She heard her husband walk through the front door and say "I'm home!"

Taking her two children, she walked over to Grissom, who smiled once he saw his family.

"Hi," he said to Sara, giving her a kiss. "How was your day?"

"Good, how about you?" she asked.

"Russell's not letting Julie do any extra work because she's three months pregnant. Hodges popped the question to Wendy. They're getting married in a couple of months."

"How long has it been since Russell and Finlay got married?"

"It's been a year. Why?"

"I'm so terrible at dates, I knew that their anniversary was coming up, but I had forgotten when the wedding was."

"It's ok, sweetie, we're not perfect, we are not expected to remember everything."

~CSI~

Morgan Sanders looked over at her handsome husband. 15 years later, their love for each other was as strong as it had been on day one. Kayla was 15 years old, and now, she had two more siblings to look after, a younger brother named Jim, and a younger sister named Kathleen. Her siblings were 8 and 7 years old, and were just running like crazy around the house. Kayla decided that she was going to take a nap on the hardwood floor. She was in the 9th grade, and the amount of homework that she received was insane.

She was about to fall asleep on her pillow, when she heard the sound of things being pushed around. Where were her mother and father?

Kayla turned around and saw Jim chasing Kathleen with a beach ball. He was trying to hit his sister with the ball, but ended up hitting Kayla three times. Annoyed, she tried to go to sleep again. However, Jim started throwing marshmallows at Kathleen, causing Kayla to not be able to sleep.

"Jim, Kathleen!" their older sister said.

The two children stopped dead in their tracks.

"I'm trying to sleep here! Stop making noise for one second, and let me take a nap! Being in high school is hard because I get so much homework. I need a little beauty rest."

"Sorry," Jim replied. "We'll be quiet."

"Well, it's time to get ready for church," Morgan said.

"Mom, please, I'm so tired. Can I go next week?" Kayla asked.

"No. Go get ready. We're leaving in a half hour."

~CSI~

Today was Catherine's 31st birthday, and after church, Nick told her that they were going somewhere special to celebrate. She was the second member of the Popular Committee that wasn't married, and she wondered why Nick hadn't proposed yet.

After church, he started driving towards one of Vegas's most expensive restaurants, and she wondered why they were stopping here.

He helped her out of the car and once they had opened the restaurant's front door, she saw many people sitting around tables, and she noticed that the private party room was closed.

He took her over to the room, and Catherine saw the faces of her family and friends yelling "SURPRISE!"

Tears were running down her face. She never had a birthday like this before. After her parents died, she would just hang out with Sara, Julie, and Wendy on her birthday, and they would go to the mall and eat McDonald's.

"Happy birthday Cath," Nick said.

"You...you did all of this?" she asked.

"Yes. I wanted this birthday to be special."

"It's so wonderful. I never had a party like this before."

He walked over to the speaker on the table, and began playing music.

"There's a song I want to dedicate to you, Cath, and the chorus of another," he said. He began playing "Shooting Stars" by Bag Raiders.

_It's late and I'm awake_

_Staring at the wall_

_Open up my window_

_Head falls out the door_

_No one else around_

_And a shimmer takes my eye_

_I lift my head_

_Blinded by the sky_

_Feel my weight in front_

_Following the sound_

_Moves away so fast_

_Fall down to the ground_

_I know what is to come_

_Jump back to my feet_

_Now I only see ahead of me_

_Chasing down the street_

_Give my love to a shooting star_

_But she moves so fast_

_That I can't keep up_

_I'm chasing_

_I'm in love with a shooting star_

_But she moves so fast_

_When she goes there_

_I'll be waiting _

Once the song was over, Nick played the chorus of "What You Know" by Two Door Cinema Club.

_And I can tell just what you want_

_You don't want to be alone_

_You don't want to be alone_

_And I can't say it's what you know_

_But you've known it the whole time,_

_Yeah, you've known it the whole time_

She was crying happy tears by the end of the chorus. She loved Nick more that she could imagine, and suddenly gasped when he knelt down on one knee in front of her.

"Catherine Willows, you are the most amazing woman I have ever met, and I don't know what my life would be like today if I hadn't gone to LVCL and met you. You are my queen, my everything, and my forever. Will you marry me and make me the happiest man alive?" he asked, pulling out the diamond ring.

She gasped, then let the tears come. "Yes, Nick, I will! A million times, yes!"

All of her friends and family applauded and cheered when he put the ring on her finger.

~CSI~

Wendy looked at herself in the mirror again. She noticed a small bump on her abdomen forming, and she looked down at the three positive pregnancy tests in her hand. Hodges was on his way home from work, and she couldn't wait to tell him the news.

Five minutes later, Wendy was sitting on the bed, waiting for him to come through the doorway. He walked through, and gave his fiancée a kiss.

"I have something to tell you," she said. "I'm pregnant."

"You're...you're pregnant?" he asked, shocked.

"Yes. I took three tests to make sure, and they're all positive."

"Our first child," he said, climbing onto the bed next to her. He put his arms around his fiancée and pulled her closer to him.

~CSI~

The next night at work, Julie and Russell almost got caught by Grissom for making out in the break room. But, they didn't really care because they were showing how much they loved each other.

However, Sara's night was about to turn deadly. She was investigating the Miniature Killer case, and Grissom had identified who the killer was. It was Natalie Davis, one of the Crime Lab's janitorial staff.

In the parking lot of one of Vegas's malls, Sara was talking on the phone with her husband, unaware that she was being watched.

"See you back at the Lab. I love you," she said, ending the call. She walked over to her Prius and put her crime scene kit in the trunk, then closed the door.

"Sara," a voice called. She turned around and came face-to-face with the Miniature Killer. Sara was about to pull out her gun and arrest Davis, but the CSI was suddenly struck with electricity. Natalie had pulled out a taser and shocked the brunette. Once Sara was paralyzed from the taser shock, she was dragged towards another car, tied up and locked in a trunk. The car was out of the parking lot within a couple of minutes.

~CSI~

An hour passed and Grissom was becoming increasingly worried about his wife. The drive from the mall to the Lab took about 10 minutes, and even with traffic, the drive would only take a half hour.

"Has anyone seen Sara?" he asked.

"Not since yesterday," Catherine replied.

His cell phone rang and he immediately asked Hodges to trace it.

"Grissom," the Supervisor said.

"Hello Grissom," the voice replied.

"Where's my wife?"

"Tied up in a trunk. And if you're going to ask me where she is, I won't tell you anything. You don't deserve to know where she's going. I'm going to kill her just like you killed my father."

TBC...


	2. Parenting

***A/N: Anything with *** means that the event actually happened to me, but I just changed some names.* **

^***Sara was sitting in her 10th grade English class. It was just a normal Thursday, but the class was required to work on their upcoming book presentations that were going to be happening on Tuesday. Sara was in a group of four, with Catherine, Teresa, and Morgan as her partners. Grissom was sitting at the next table with his group reading a different book.

Ms. Keen was standing at the front of the room by the whiteboard. She was telling the class that they needed to create a account, or use the account they had created last year, but only if they had made one. Sara knew that she had created an account last year, but couldn't remember her email or password in order to log in. Turnitin was a website that looked through students' work and caught plagiarism.

Using her laptop that her parents had given to her as a Christmas present, she opened up Internet Explorer and clicked on . She started to make a new account, but had forgotten to email herself the new username and password in case she needed to use the website again. Opening another tab, she pulled up her email and composed a new message to herself containing the information that she would need. Just as she was about to email herself and create the account, she suddenly heard Ms. Keen start talking to her. Sara turned around and became slightly frightened.

"I need you to close out that email account, and if I see you on it again, you will have to use a NetBook," Ms. Keen said.

Sara realized that her teacher was telling her that if she was caught again, she would not be allowed to use her own laptop anymore, and would have to use the school's laptops, which were monitored very carefully. The firewall blocked almost anything you tried to access.

"Ms. Keen, I was just emailing my username and password to myself in case I forget," Sara said, trying to reason with her teacher.

"Oh okay," she replied, then walked away.***^

Sara opened her eyes and looked around at her surroundings. She concluded that she was in a desert, trapped underneath a car. The car was pressing down onto her left arm, already having broken it from the car's enormous weight.

Rain began to fall and started flowing into the broken car. Sara knew that if she didn't free herself soon, she would drown and never get to see the love of her life again. She wouldn't get to see the family and friends she cared about. She tried to yank her arm out from underneath the car, but it was stuck. She used her free arm to grab ahold of the rearview mirror and attempted to free herself another way.

~CSI~

Catherine and Nick were sitting in Hodges's lab, trying to figure out what happened to their best friend. But leads were turning up dry, until Hodges figured out who the Miniature Killer really was. He discovered that the Killer was part of the janitorial staff, and that she had pushed her sister out of a tree house when she was four. Natalie Davis was the killer, losing her foster father and began to blame Grissom for everything. Natalie had lost the one person in the world important to her, so she decided that Grissom should pay for his mistake by taking away the most important person to him-his wife.

~CSI~

Sara had managed to get herself out from underneath the car, but was now dealing with a broken arm and had no water. She knew that she needed to get to civilization soon, or she die in the desert.

She had begun to leave a rock trail in case her team had found the car. But she continued to walk farther north towards the main road that led back into Vegas. After a couple more hours of walking, and seeing sight of the main road, she began feeling dizzy and losing her vision. Her body was too weak to go on and was severely dehydrated. She fell to her knees and collapsed on her side, eyes closed and her pulse weakening.

~CSI~

Nick and Greg were driving in one of the Crime Lab's cars around the desert, looking for any sign of their co-worker. Natalie's car and Sara's vest had been found buried underneath the sand. Nick began using the binoculars and saw a flashing light off in the distance.

"Greg, slow down and turn right now!" the older CSI ordered. The car began driving towards the light, and to their horror, someone was lying on their side, clothes torn and not moving.

"Sara!" Nick cried, quickly flinging off his seatbelt and jumping out of the car, running towards his best friend. She was completely motionless and pale.

"Sara, it's Nick, can you hear me?" he asked, putting his fingers on her neck. "I can't get a pulse!"

Greg pulled out his walkie-talkie and signed to the other CSIs that Sara was found, but needed a Medivac right away.

The helicopter landed, and out came two paramedics, carrying a stretcher, IV line, and oxygen mask.

Grissom and Catherine quickly arrived soon after, and he was running fast. Faster than Catherine, who was catching her breath only a few paces behind him.

Grissom knelt down on the ground and was horrified at the sight of his wife, unconscious with no pulse, her clothes torn, a sling keeping her left arm supported, and completely dehydrated.

"She's not responding!" one of the paramedics shouted.

The Supervisor felt like the sky was falling onto him. He thought his wife might already be dead, and he would never be able to hold her and tell her he loved her ever again.

Sara had an oxygen mask put over her mouth, and an IV line inserted into her arm. She was loaded into the helicopter, while the rest of the team minus Grissom were heading towards their cars to go to Desert Palms. He was going in the helicopter with her, never wanting to let her go. After they were in the air, he still didn't see any response from Sara. Her rings were reflecting the sunlight shining through the windows, and her eyebrows moved slightly. Grissom let out a sigh of relief, knowing that she was still alive. She opened her eyes, and smiled at the sight of her husband holding her hand and looking at her.

~CSI~

Three weeks later, Sara had fully recovered from her near-death experience with Natalie. The Miniature Killer had been sentenced to life in prison without a chance of parole. Grissom was taking his wife home and making sure that she stayed home for a week because he did not want her to go right back to work right after just recovering from escaping death. He told her that he was going to the bar with the team after work for about an hour, but would be home after.

Several hours later, Sara was feeling tired and decided to go to bed, but needed to check up on her children. Her son, Nicholas, was giving his sister, Katelyn, a toy ball to play with.

"Nicholas, no!" she said.

He dropped the ball and then Katelyn began to cry.

"It's bedtime," Sara said, picking her daughter up and taking her son by the hand.

"No! No wanna sleep!" Nicholas demanded.

Then, the door opened and Grissom walked through, also looking tired.

"Daddy!" Nicholas said, trying to reach him.

"Nicky David Grissom, you are in trouble," Sara replied. "Daddy will punish you instead."

She turned to her husband. "Nicky talked back to me because he's not tired and the reason is because he ate out of the sugar container sometime today when I was not watching."

"Nicky, you know better," Grissom said. "Daddy's going to punish you. Mommy has to take care of your sister."

Sara walked into the kitchen and pulled out her daughter's bottle full of milk from the fridge.

In the living room, Nicky was running as fast as he could away from his dad, but Grissom had picked him up off the floor and began taking him into the bedroom. As Sara calmed Katelyn down, she could hear Nicky crying from his room.

"Daddy, pu-leez!" he begged.

Katelyn had calmed down in her mother's arms and Sara carried her back to the bedroom. She set her daughter in her crib and headed towards her son's room. Grissom had just closed the door.

"Nicky fell asleep," he said. Sara took her husband's hand and together they headed back to their bedroom to get ready for bed.

~CSI~

It had been just over 15 years since Stella had been snatched right in front of the Crime Lab. She was now 31 and raising her 14-year-old daughter. Stella had never made it back to Vegas because her disappearance case was closed seven years after she went missing. She was declared legally dead.

Once Mac had learned that his former girlfriend was considered deceased, he broke down crying. He had finished going to University and was going to be married to Christine very shortly.

Now, Christine had passed away five years ago. Someone had broken into the Taylor household earlier in the day, and when Mac came home from work that evening, he found a note taped to his bedroom door that said, "Welcome home Detective Taylor. You'll be surprised to learn what I've done to your lovely wife."

He opened the door and found Christine, her motionless body lying on top of a sheet of plastic covering the carpet.

Two years later, he married another woman named Claire Conrad, but their marriage didn't last very long. He found her, dead from a drug overdose with a forced suicide note in her hand.

Now, he had been single for almost four years. After losing two wives, he didn't think that marriage was an option for him anymore.

One day when he arrived at work, he saw his assistant supervisor Tanya Romero sitting in her office, looking depressed. She was looking at a photo of a young girl around the age of 16. Several other photos were on the desk, one of which included Stella and Mac at his house, watching their favorite movie on their eighth-month anniversary two weeks before her abduction and presumed death.

He saw Tanya pull something out of her purse. She headed out of her office and into Danny Messer's Lab. Stella's friends from high school had all applied to work at the New York City Crime Lab, with Mac running the Lab. Danny was married to Lindsay, and Don and Angell were going to be married in two months.

Tanya took a hammer and smashed whatever she had in her purse into pieces.

"Mac, don't hate me for this," she said. "But my real name is not Tanya."

She took off her wig and contacts, revealing her curly brown hair and natural eye color.

"Who are you?" he asked, confused.

"It's me, Stella," she replied. "It's me."

"What...not possible. Stella's been dead for eight years," he said.

"I'm not dead. I even have DNA test results proving it's me."

After looking at the results, he couldn't believe what he had just read. His girlfriend was alive after all these years.

"It's you," he said, kissing her passionately. "I never gave up looking for you. I love you."

"I love you too."

TBC...


	3. Infidelity

Two months later, it was the day of Mac and Stella's wedding. Everyone was invited, including their best friends in Vegas and Miami. He never thought he would remarry again, not after losing two wives. But she had always been the love of his life and he was never going to let her go again. Not after 15 years in pain, suffering, and struggling to hold on to fading memories of the people she cared about. She was currently in the process of having her journals published into one book. She wanted people to know what it was like to be held against your own will for 15 years. At 31 years old, with a Master's degree in Criminology, about to be married to the boss of the busiest Crime Lab in the country, and having two firearms, she was going to hunt down the man who destroyed her life. Destroyed the rest of her education, her relationship with Mac, her memories of her family and friends, and her career. Her job with the Crime Lab was one of the best things in her life.

And now, her relationship with Mac had been restored. Once they tied the knot, nothing was going to tear them apart. No matter the cost.

He stood with his co-workers at the end of the altar, watching his bride-to-be walk down the aisle. Her father had died two years after her abduction.

The reception itself didn't take very long. The couple said their vows and gave each other the ring and wedding band. They said their "I do's" and were pronounced husband and wife.

~CSI~

The newlyweds decided to head back to their hometown for their honeymoon since so much had changed in the last 15 years. Mac had gotten to meet his stepdaughter, and the two formed a loving bond. However, just before the couple left the main room of the church where the wedding was being held, they heard Flack and Angell arguing and yelling.

"Take your ring back, Flack, because I don't care!" Jessica screamed. "I can't believe you! We're about to be married, and I see you off with another girl. We're through."

"Jess, I was only hugging her. Her brother was just murdered. I was giving her a hug like friends always do," Flack protested.

"Yea, well, I don't believe you. How long have you been with her?"

"Jessica Angell, I swear on my father's grave that I have never been with her. She's a friend. Nothing more."

But she felt the tears coming. "I'm sorry, but I can't believe you."

She took off her ring and gave it back to him. Then, she turned around and walked away.

Flack was brokenhearted. He needed to get her back because it was all a misunderstanding.

~CSI~

"I love you so much," Conrad said to the woman lying in his bed. She was so pretty, with long brown hair and dark blue eyes. As he saw her lying there, the guilt began pressing into his chest. Married to the love of his life for 33 years, and now he was destroying his marriage by being with a younger woman. They had met at work and even though the woman had tried to flirt with him, he had fallen in love with her. Elaine had no idea that her husband was now a liar and a cheater. An adulterer.

But he wasn't watching the clock. His wife had gotten back from buying the groceries and he could hear her putting the food away in the refrigerator and pantry. He knew he was trapped, but he needed to tell her what was really going on. His lover, Erica, was throwing her clothes back on and heading out of the bedroom. She was walking towards the front door when Elaine stopped her.

"Who are you?" Elaine asked.

"Erica. One of your husband's co-workers," she said coolly.

"He invited you over here?"

"Yes he did. And who are you?"

"His wife."

"Oh, you must be the woman that he talks about a lot."

"The woman?"

"Yes. He says that he has a woman in his life. He told me all about you. He said that you are an amazing person."

"He did?"

"Not really. He barely talked about you. How long have you two been married?"

"34 years next month. Why?"

"Because I think your marriage to that man is over."

"What are you talking about? I want you to leave. I'm getting a terrible vibe from you. I don't like you."

"Yea, you should. You will be hating your husband any moment now."

"Get out of here!"

"One last thing," she said. Conrad walked out the bedroom and into the living room. Elaine watched her husband embrace Erica...and kiss her passionately.

"Bye, lover," she said as she walked out of the house. "Call me."

Elaine was furious. How could her husband do this to her? 15 years ago, his exact words were "I love you Mrs. Brody, forever and ever."

But his words were all just lies being told. She walked up to her soon-to-be ex-husband and slapped him in the face.

"You liar and jerk," she said. "We had it all, and you just decided to throw it away."

"Elaine, please let me explain-" he began, but she just glared at him.

"Don't even try. I don't ever want to speak to you again. I want you gone by tomorrow. Take your things and get out of this house. I never want to see you again."

She stormed down the hall into Samantha's room, untouched for 15 years. Elaine would clean it every other week, but she never changed anything. She wanted to remember as much of her best friend as she could.

"I HATE HIM GOD! HOW COULD HE DO THIS TO ME?" Elaine said, breaking down crying. "HELP ME PLEASE."

Conrad realized what he had done. He felt the guilt return and heard a voice talking to him. The voice said, "Flee from sexual immorality."

Conrad picked up the phone and dialed the pastor of their local church.

"I want to schedule a counseling appointment."

~CSI~

He sat down in the pastor's office, praying for forgiveness. The pastor entered the room and took a seat behind his desk.

"I realize what I did was wrong. I cheated on my wife of 33 years. It was going to be 34 years next month. But I never slept with Erica. I love Elaine, but I don't expect her to forgive me right away. I want to work things out with her and repair our marriage," Conrad said after a while.

After the meeting, he decided to give Elaine some space. He would stay with Morgan for a little while until the situation cleared up.

~CSI~

***Four months later* **

Catherine and Nick had finally tied the knot in New York City three months ago. They had gone to Fiji for their two-week honeymoon. However, Conrad and Elaine's marriage was going downhill. They had been attending counseling, but Elaine had decided on separation. She wasn't ready to divorce her husband of 34 years quite yet. She still loved him, but they needed some time apart. But, after being separated for three months, she decided to end the marriage. She was hurt, broken, and felt dirty and used. Conrad had loved her, but instead he cheated on her with someone younger. Elaine and her friend Jerry were going to get the divorce papers. Once they were in her hand, she picked up the pen and signed her name. All she needed was Conrad's signature and the marriage was over.

While at work on his lunch break, she dropped the divorce papers on his desk. But Conrad had something important to tell her and he thought that it might just save his marriage.

When she got home, she found him sitting at the dining room table.

"What...what are you doing here?" she asked.

"Elaine, I have something very important to tell you. I saw the divorce papers, but wasn't ready to sign them. But then I heard this and realized that the whole affair thing was a lie. I have evidence to prove that I'm not lying to you."

He showed her a video of Erica blackmailing him into starting an affair, otherwise, Elaine and Morgan would die.

"You...you never really loved her?" Elaine asked.

"No. Never," he replied. "You're the only woman I will ever love."

"Do you mean what you say? I want you to be honest with me. Do you love me and only me?"

But she was cut off by her husband kissing her.

"Elaine, I love you and only you. I swear on Samantha's grave that you are the only woman I will ever love," he said.

"Then you're forgiven. The divorce papers will be shredded and we won't have to worry about them again."

"I think that's a great idea."

~CSI~

Catherine was at home, relaxing on the couch. It had been the happiest four months of her life, and she did not want her marriage to fall apart. Especially since she was two-and-a-half months pregnant. Nick knew nothing about his wife being pregnant. She planned to tell him when he got home from work.

She heard him walk through the door and shout, "Cath, I'm home!"

He smiled at the sight of his beautiful wife walking towards him. He pulled her into an embrace.

"How are you?" he asked.

"Pretty good," she replied. "But I think I have something that might just make your day even better."

"What's that?"

"I'm pregnant."

A smile came across his face. "We're going to have a baby?"

"Yes."

He kissed her, then put his hands on her belly. He couldn't believe that a little miracle was growing inside her.

"Hello sweetie, it's your daddy," he said. "I really want to hold you and see how beautiful you are."

~CSI~

***The next night***

He saw the CSI walking towards the bagged plastic cup. Of course the bag was false. The evidence tape/seal wasn't even the same color as the Crime Lab used. The officer that was supposed to be keeping an eye on him had gone over to his car to vomit. The CSI picked up the bag containing the cup and noticed that it had already been bagged with evidence tape.

However, the killer needed to execute his plan before the cop vomiting in his car noticed anything was wrong. He came up behind the CSI, arms raised, and a cloth in one hand.

Nick suddenly became aware of someone's hand pressing a cloth into his mouth. He was trying to free himself, but whatever was on the cloth was quick-acting. He went unconsciousness in his captor's arms.

The killer realized that his victim was a bit heavier than he expected. Nick was carried to a white car off in the distance and hidden behind a building. His wrists were tied behind him.

The killer quickly shut the door, then headed up to the driver's seat. The car was out of sight within a couple of minutes.

TBC...


	4. Renovation

"Emily Prentiss, will you marry me?" Aaron asked his girlfriend of six years. He was now living in Quantico, Virginia, working for the BAU. He had become Unit Chief and she was one of his profilers.

"Yes, of course, Aaron, I will marry you!" she exclaimed.

Aaron gave her the ring and was finally happy- the love of his life had just agreed to marry him.

~CSI~

***Three days previous***

^Grissom and the team had gone out to the bar. Catherine, Wendy, and Julie had just gotten a soda to drink in order to not harm the babies. Sara was still at home resting from her near-death experience. However, Grissom had gotten slightly drunk and was driving towards the crime lab. Catherine had gotten high on caffeine and the two of them settled at the Lab in his office for the day.

When Catherine awoke, she was astounded to find herself half-dressed and...next to Grissom, who was missing half of his clothing. She realized that they had drunkenly and accidently spent the day together.

The two of them quickly began to get dressed, hoping to run home and change before their friends arrived at work. But they were wrong.

Grissom's shirt was wrinkled badly, and Catherine was wearing her shirt from the night before. Sara, Nick, and Russell were the first people at the Lab that evening and the three of them had astounded looks on their faces.

Grissom and Catherine had shocked looks, and Sara immediately became suspicious.

"What's going on?" the brunette asked.

"Sara, it's not what it looks like," Cath replied, running past the trio.

"Grissom...how could you? I'd never think that you'd cheat on me again. Especially with my best friend."

"Sara, I promise...nothing happened."^

~CSI~

***Present Day***

Nick was still unconscious, but had woken up in the back of a van. His hands were tied behind him and he tried to get himself up into a sitting position. Once the door opened, he would kick his attacker and run without looking back.

But unfortunately, he was wrong. Instead of the back door opening, the side door opened and the attacker stepped in. He clamped a wet cloth over the CSI's mouth, knocking him unconscious.

The killer lifted him out and dragged him across some dirt until he arrived at a box made of plexiglas. Nick was placed into the box along with glow lights, his gun, and a tape recorder. The lid was closed and dirt began to be shoveled on top, burying the CSI alive.

~CSI~

Catherine awoke suddenly and looked at the clock. She had a half hour to be at work or Grissom was going to get upset.

She noticed that the house was relatively quiet except for Sam, the dog, who was eating his breakfast/dinner. She noticed that her husband wasn't around. No note had been left behind saying that he had to leave early for work. She wondered why her husband would just take off without saying anything. Unless he ran off with Sara because of her whole drunken experience with Grissom.

She eliminated that option right away because she and Sara had made up very quickly. The two girls had been best friends for almost 20 years, and they didn't want anything to ruin their friendship.

She dialed the Crime Lab and heard Grissom pick up right away.

"Grissom, it's Catherine. Have you seen Nick? He's not at home and I'm worried about him."

"He went to a crime scene with Officer Dawson. He should be back soon," her Supervisor replied.

"Ok then, I'll see you at work."

~CSI~

Morgan and Greg had been given the weekend off. They decided to focus on their three children and spend some quality time with them. Kayla often looked after her siblings during the night while her parents worked.

Today, around 3, Morgan and Greg awoke from a restful day's sleep and overheard Jim and Kathleen arguing over the TV. Kayla was still at school, so she was lucky not having to hear her siblings argue.

"Hey, it's my turn!" Kathleen shouted. "You hogged the TV yesterday!"

"No, you did! You had it while watching The Powerpuff Girls. For an hour!"

"Because there were two episodes!"

"The remote is mine!"

"No, it's mine!"

"Alright, enough!" Morgan shouted. She entered the living room and took the remote from Jim. "Both of you are forbidden to watch TV for the rest of the day."

"Come on, Mom, that's not fair!" Kathleen said.

"Either you keep complaining or I will make it longer."

"Jim started it."

"No, you started it!" Jim complained.

"Jim Gilbert Sanders, go to your room now!" Greg ordered his son.

"Kathleen Julie Sanders, you and I will be having a little talk," Morgan said, sitting on the couch next to her younger daughter.

~CSI~

***A/N: Details about Nick's kidnapping will be revealed in the next chapter through flashbacks.***

It was December 20th, only five days until Christmas. Stella had been feeling very tired most days, and was having trouble focusing on her job. Her husband told her that he had to go to a Forensics Conference in Miami for the weekend. He would be back late Sunday evening.

At work on Friday, Mac noticed that Stella had fallen asleep at her desk. He shook her awake, but came back two hours later and found that she couldn't write her own name properly.

He took her into his office.

"How much sleep have you gotten?" he asked.

"I got about five last night, but I have gotten around six or seven usually every night," she replied.

"You need to go home and rest. You're tired, and I want you rested up for work on Monday."

"Will I see you before you go?"

"My flight leaves in two hours, so I guess I will say goodbye now."

He gave her a kiss goodbye, then saw Lindsay lead her out to the car.

~CSI~

That night, as Stella was preparing for bed, she felt a slight cramping in her abdomen. She remembered eating plain cheese pizza for dinner, and thought that maybe the cheese had gone bad.

She decided to go to sleep and hopefully would feel better in the morning.

Around 3 in the morning, she was awakened by a blinding pain in her abdomen. It felt like someone had just stabbed her and wouldn't stop. She knew that Mac was already in Miami because he had called her when he landed. Her 14-year-old daughter was sleeping over with a friend. Stella was completely alone.

She got out of bed, but a sharp pain ripped through her back, causing her to fall to the ground. She couldn't stand up as she tried to reach for the phone. She was able to dial 911 on her cell phone and explain the situation. The operator said that an ambulance had been dispatched and was on the way to her house.

She dialed Mac and told him that she had severe abdominal pain, thinking that she had appendicitis or a bowel obstruction. He told her that the Forensics conference had been cancelled and he was on the first flight back to New York.

The paramedics got Stella on a stretcher and she was on her way to the hospital within five minutes.

Fifteen minutes later, she was in an examination room.

"So, Mrs. Taylor, I hear that you ate some pizza last night for dinner and have been experiencing abdominal cramps?" the nurse asked.

"Yes," Stella replied. "They've gotten worse since I woke up at three."

"Is there a chance you might be pregnant? Do you remember when your last cycle was?"

"No to both."

A doctor entered the room and did a physical exam.

"Mrs. Taylor, you're in labor," he said.

"What?" Stella asked, completely shocked.

"You're going to have a baby and you're going to have it within the next half hour."

"But that's not possible. I can't be pregnant."

Then, the pain began to rip through her lower abdomen again.

"Get her to Labor and Delivery room two now," the doctor said.

Stella was whisked away to the room and prepped for the delivery.

She groaned in pain. "It hurts!"

"When you feel a contraction, I want you to push," the doctor said.

Barely 10 minutes later, the sound of a newborn crying filled the room.

"It's a girl."

The little girl was determined to be full term and healthy. Stella held her daughter and couldn't believe how beautiful she was.

"Your daddy's going to just love you," Stella told her newborn baby. "And I love you so much."

Four hours later, Mac arrived at the hospital waiting room, still carrying his luggage.

"Are you Mr. Taylor?" a nurse asked, holding a clipboard.

"Yes I am," Mac replied. "I'm here to see my wife."

"She's in the delivery room waiting for you. She insisted that you come and see her before she's moved to recovery."

"Delivery room?" Mac asked, confused.

"You didn't know? Your wife had a baby."

"What? She was pregnant?"

"Yes. But she had no idea."

Mac followed the nurse to the delivery room. Once he saw his wife, he smiled and ran over to her.

"Hi," he said.

"Hi," she replied. "I think there's someone who wants to meet you."

Mac took his daughter into his arms.

"Hi sweetie, I'm your daddy," he said. "You're so beautiful."

~CSI~

***Morganders! Dedicated to youronlyhuman.***

Morgan and Greg had decided to sell their one-story, four-bedroom, two-bathroom house and move to a five-bedroom, two-and-a-half, two story house. It was closer to the Crime Lab and to school for their children. It was a block away from Catherine and Nick's house.

But, the Sanders house had been on the market for six months, and no offers had come through. They needed help selling the house.

It was Morgan's 32nd birthday, and Greg had a surprise planned for her. He had finally figured out a way to sell their house. And he had invited Morgan's role-model to stop by.

At 9 in the morning, Morgan had just finished getting dressed when she heard a knock on the door.

"Greg, are you expecting anyone at this time? Because I know I'm not," Morgan said.

"Actually, I am," he replied, walking over to the door.

"Who?"

"You'll find out."

Greg opened the door and into the house came a woman and a man with dark brown hair, another man with gray hair, and a crew of TV cameramen.

Morgan screamed. She couldn't believe who had just stepped through her door.

It was Tanya Memme, Charlie Frattini, and Daniel Kucan, the Sell This House: Extreme team. Tanya had been Morgan's role model since she was a child. Morgan had watched the show growing up and couldn't believe that it was coming back to TV. The blond had a dream to meet her role model one day.

"Happy Birthday, Morgan," Greg said.

"You...you got them to come?" she responded.

"I knew that we were having trouble selling the house, and I found out that the show was coming back to TV. And I knew that Tanya was your role model, so I thought I would surprise you today."

After Tanya introduced herself and the team, she set up a few hidden cameras and told Morgan and Greg that they needed to be out of the house for a few hours while an open house took place.

Four hours later, the couple sat around their dining room table with Tanya and Daniel. Tanya had her laptop showing the four hidden camera feeds. Morgan and Greg were nervous as Tanya clicked on the first feed, which was the living room.

TBC...

***A/N: What do you think potential buyers are going to say about the house? Comment below! I would love to hear your thoughts.* :)**


	5. Storm

_"Ugh, this room is so dark."_

_"It's so...blah and old."_

_"Needs a fresh coat of paint."_

_"It feels like I'm in a dungeon."_

_"I think I just entered my grandma's house."_

Morgan couldn't believe that potential buyers were saying those things about the living room. She had thought that her living room looked ok.

"Are you alright?" Tanya asked.

"Yea, I'm ok," Morgan responded.

"Alright, then let's move on to the dining room/kitchen."

_"Way too much clutter."_

_"Why is there tinfoil on the counter? Makes no sense."_

_"Hate the wall color."_

_"It feels like I just stepped back into 1989."_

_"Too cramped."_

_"Ugly wall color."_

"I like the color," Morgan replied. "It's brown, why are people hating it?"

"Sometimes dark colors make the house feel smaller," Daniel explained. "The kitchen and bathroom are the most important rooms of a house, and that's what people are looking at the most. If you add a much lighter color like vanilla, the room may appear to be bigger."

"I've been thinking about changing the kitchen wall color for a few months, but Morgan told me that she doesn't want to get rid of the chocolate brown," Greg said.

The couple then focused on the master bedroom/bathroom.

_"Again, this room is cramped."_

_"Way too dark."_

_"Need to clear out some of this junk on the floor."_

_"When was the last time the carpet was cleaned?"_

_"Bathroom needs to be completely redone."_

_"Tub is way too small and I hate the style."_

Morgan and Greg were shocked at how negative the comments were. They thought that it was a decent-sized house with lots of room and functioning appliances. They were wanting to sell the house for 600,000 dollars.

"I spoke to your real-estate agent," Tanya said. "She says that your house would only sell for 500,000 dollars."

The couple couldn't believe that their house would sell for less than a hundred thousand dollars than they originally asked for.

~CSI~

As Nick and Catherine were sitting on the couch, relaxing, he suddenly had a flashback to his kidnapping.

^He had been in the coffin, examining his surroundings. He had a tape recorder, his gun, and some glow lights. He knocked on the sides and top of his prison, and discovered in horror that he was in a box.

He played the message on the tape recorder.

"Hi CSI guy. You're wondering why you're here? Because you followed the evidence. And you were just perfect for my little experiment. Maybe Grissom can feel the pain because he took my daughter away. So, I took the person that seemed like a son to him. I'm going to send your little friends a note."

He had begun to panic, trying to claw his way out of the box, but to no avail. He was trapped with no way of escaping.^

~CSI~

Morgan and Greg met up with the team in their kitchen.

"These cabinets and countertops have to go," Charlie said.

He handed her a sledgehammer and she brought it down as hard as she could onto the counter. Pieces of the granite flew onto the floor. An hour ago, her personal belongings had been dropped off at her parents' house.

Morgan turned out to be excellent with a sledgehammer. She easily destroyed the countertop, which Charlie took outside once it had been separated from the cabinets. Greg then took the sledgehammer and destroyed the cabinets.

"Good job, now we got to get those appliances out of this house," Charlie said, signaling for his men to come in and remove the fridge.

~CSI~

Meanwhile, in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, Stella was visiting Amelia. The two sisters were watching TV when they suddenly heard a beeping sound coming from the radio.

"A tornado warning has been set in effect for Oklahoma City. Please take shelter right away," a voice said over the radio.

"Mac!" Stella called. Her husband came in from the bathroom cuddling their three-month old daughter Stacy. His stepdaughter Ashley was walking right next to him.

"What is it honey?" he asked.

"There's a tornado headed our way; we should head to the basement or the shelter," Stella replied.

"Ok."

He turned to Ashley. "You have about five minutes to grab your things and get into the basement. Grab whatever you can and get down there."

"Yes dad," Ashley said, running to her room.

Stella and Mac headed to their room and grabbed some clothes, their wallets, passports, money, weapons, work credentials and badges. Mac looked out the open window and heard the tornado siren going off.

The sky was as dark as night, with a greenish tint to it. Mac had read up on weather years ago and knew that if the sky was greenish-black, trouble was headed his way.

"Get to the basement now!" he ordered his family.

Stella grabbed her two daughters and bolted to the basement, with Mac and Amelia running right behind her carrying two suitcases full of extra supplies. Amelia slammed and locked the door shut, with Stella clutching Stacy close to her. They had taken shelter in the basement's bathroom, covering herself with a mattress that she found in the bedroom. Ashley was under the sink, using one hand to cover her neck and the other to grip the pipe. Mac joined his wife and held her and their daughter close.

But Stella was worried that they might not survive the storm. Amelia had seen the twister and it has to be a half-mile wide.

Mac seemed to be thinking the same thing as his wife. He brought her face to his and kissed her just as he heard windows on the second floor begin to break.

"Just in case that might be the last time I get to kiss you," he said. He pulled the mattress over them tightly and held onto his wife and daughter for dear life.

Ashley held onto the pipe with all her strength.

Stella looked her husband in the eyes and said, "I love you so much."

"I love you too," he said.

The family heard the tornado roar above them. They heard the roof being ripped off piece by piece.

Within a minute, the roar had faded away. An announcement had been made over the radio saying the tornado had dissipated.

Everyone headed up the stairs to the main floor of the house and looked around at the destruction.

There wasn't even a house left. The tornado had been powerful enough to rip Amelia's house off its foundation and into shreds. Furniture was missing and whatever hadn't gotten sucked up was broken.

The second story didn't even exist anymore. Everything on that floor was gone, including a lot of Stella and Mac's travel things. At least they had their weapons and credentials.

"Mom, where did Aunt Amelia's house go?" Ashley asked.

"It got destroyed in the storm while we were hiding," Stella explained. "We're going home. I'll call Danny and Lindsay and see if we can get a private jet to go back to New York."

"And leave me here?" Amelia said.

"No, you'll come with us."

~CSI~

Within four hours, Danny and Lindsay arrived at the horrible sight of a city ripped apart.

"Stella!" Lindsay cried, running over to her best friend. "Are you ok? We heard about the storm."

"We're all fine, but my sister's house has been leveled," Stella said. "Can you get all of us onto the plane?"

"Yes, there's enough room."

Amelia and her family followed Stella's co-workers to a plane and got themselves strapped in and prepared for takeoff.

~CSI~

It had been three months since Morgan and Greg moved to the house they wanted. They got more than the 600,000 dollars then they had asked for.

It was a rainy day, which was very unusual, since Vegas was practically a desert.

Kayla was playing some sort of puzzle game on her tablet, Jim was eating a snack, and Kathleen was looking out the window at the rain.

Greg was looking over a case file and Morgan was making a grocery list. After work tomorrow, she would go shopping.

"Kathleen, you haven't cleaned your room this week," Morgan said, looking through the stack of grocery ads. "And get away from the window. I just cleaned it."

But Kathleen didn't move an inch. Why should she have to clean her room on a rainy day? She wanted to go outside and jump in the puddles. Cleaning her room was something to be done on a boring day.

"Kathleen, you need to clean your room," Morgan continued.

"Jim and Kayla haven't done theirs."

"Kat, I'm not talking about them. I'm telling you to do your chore."

The youngest Sanders still didn't leave the window.

"KATHLEEN SANDERS, GO CLEAN YOUR ROOM NOW!" Morgan ordered.

"You don't have to yell at me," Kat said quietly.

Greg slammed his pencil down on the table. Jim stopped eating and looked at his father.

"Then do it," Greg snapped. "Your mother should not have to tell you more than once to do something."

Kat stomped down the hall and began to clean her room. As she began to dump her dirty laundry into the basket, she heard her mom and Kayla arguing.

"But I don't have to leave for work for another 20 minutes!" Kayla said. "And I'm ready!"

"Your hair has frizz. Go blow-dry it," Morgan responded.

"I just blow-dried it!"

"You need some earrings and pull your hair back."

"No one pulls their hair back, Mom!"

"If it comes past your shoulders, you have to pull it back."

"Whatever Mom," Kayla snapped, heading down the hall to her room.

TBC...

***A/N: The italics in this chapter were representing the potential buyers' comments during the open house.***


	6. Invasion

Hodges was sitting on the couch, cuddling with his pregnant wife. He and Wendy had finally tied the knot a month ago, and they were counting down the days until their little miracle was born. She was six months pregnant, and everything was going smoothly. They were waiting until the due date to find out the gender of their baby.

Until they heard the sound of a window breaking upstairs. Unfortunately, the two lab techs did not carry guns. Thinking that someone broke into the house, Hodges snuck into the kitchen and grabbed a long carving knife out of the knife block. Even though they didn't have guns like their friends, they still had a weapon to fight back with.

Just as he was about to grab a second knife, he heard a scream from the living room.

He ran into the room to find a masked intruder holding Wendy at knifepoint.

"Drop the knife or I cut her throat," the intruder threatened.

Hodges set the weapon on the ground and put his hands in the air. Then, the intruder shouted for his partner and the two perpetrators tied both Wendy and Hodges to the staircase, then ransacked the house as they searched the house for money and expensive things.

One of the men came back with a cell phone and a bag full of Wendy's jewelry.

"You're going to call your boss and tell him that there's been a home invasion," he ordered Hodges.

The Trace Tech had his hands freed just so he could dial Russell and Grissom.

"Vegas Crime Lab," Russell's voice answered.

"Boss, it's me, Hodges," the tech replied nervously.

"What's up?"

"There's been a home invasion. Our house."

"Are you alright? And is Wendy with you?"

"Yes to both. The men have her jewelry and I think they're looking for money."

The first intruder took the phone. "Mr. Russell, if you want your lab techs back alive, you will listen to me and do exactly as I say. First of all, I want a helicopter outside this house in an hour. You will tell no one what you are doing."

"I can't just get a helicopter without letting my boss know."

"Do it, or I kill them both. You have one hour or they're dead."

The call ended, and Russell began to ponder his options.

~CSI~

An hour later, Hodges was pacing around in the hospital, waiting for any news on his wife. The intruders had been arrested and the valuables were recovered. But Wendy had been shot in the back, and doctors were trying to save both her and the baby.

A doctor came out a few minutes later, a grim look on his face.

"David Hodges?" he asked.

"Yes, that's me," the Trace Tech said. "Is my wife and the baby ok?"

"Your baby was actually in the seven-month range. He will have a much greater chance of surviving."

"I have a son?"

"Yes. He's healthy and is six pounds."

"And my wife?"

"I'm afraid I have some bad news. The bullet hit her spinal cord in a very bad spot, and she won't be able to walk again. I'm sorry. She's permanently paralyzed from the waist down."

"SHE'S PARALYZED?"

"I'm sorry. There wasn't anything we could do."

The angry tech headed down the hall to Wendy's room. She looked as though everything was fine. She was cuddling the baby when her husband walked in.

"Hi," she said.

"Hi," he replied.

"Ouch! My waist is really sore. And I can't feel my legs. Why can't I feel them?"

"Wendy...you're paralyzed permanently from the waist down. The doctors did everything they could, but the bullet hit your spinal cord. I'm so sorry."

She broke down crying, learning that she was never going to walk again.

Little did she know that a miracle would be coming her way within the next two months.

~CSI~

As the days passed, Wendy was becoming used to the fact that the lower half of her body was useless. She was jealous of her co-workers, who were out in the field chasing down killers and walking and talking, while she couldn't do any field work. She had been wanting to become a CSI, and three months ago, she was a level 1. But, her dream of chasing down killers was gone.

It had been two months since Wendy learned of her paralysis. However, today, when she got out of bed and prepared to get in her wheelchair, she suddenly noticed something.

She could feel her toes moving around.

She couldn't believe it. Her movement was coming back! She might get to live her dream of being a CSI. She noticed that she could feel her feet a little bit.

But she still had a long way to go and recovery would take a while.

~CSI~

Aaron had finally made it home from a long day at work. He had been solving the case of people illegally sneaking across the border into Canada...and getting murdered.

His team were some of the only people he cared about. Some of his friends from childhood had joined, including Derek and Garcia. The five other profilers, excluding Garcia, who was the technical analyst, included, Aaron's wife Emily, JJ, Reid, Gideon, and Elle.

Aaron was exhausted. He needed a drink. Emily had gone out to buy groceries.

As he prepared himself a drink, he suddenly became aware of a presence in the house. He turned around and came face-to-face with his nemesis, The Reaper.

~CSI~

Emily arrived back at home, preparing to cook dinner for herself, her baby, and her husband. She and Aaron had been married for two months and she was only six weeks along, but she still wanted to tell him.

As Emily made it into the living room, she gasped in horror at the sight of her husband, lying almost motionless on the floor, blood soaking into the carpet and pooling rapidly. There was a giant hole in the wall and broken glass on the tiled kitchen floor.

"Aaron!" she cried, running over to him. "No, you can't die on me!"

She ran over to the phone, dialed 911, explained the situation, then called her co-workers and her husband's family.

The EMTs and paramedics arrived very quickly, then got Aaron onto the stretcher and took him to the hospital.

~CSI~

Morgan had been at work, talking with Russell about their latest case, when her phone suddenly rang.

"It's my sister-in-law," the blond said. "Can I take this?"

"Sure," Russell responded.

"Emily, what's up?" Morgan said once she answered the call.

"Morgan...you need to get to Quantico as soon as you can. Aaron's been stabbed in the chest nine times, and he might not make it," Emily said, sobbing.

"Oh no...alright, I'm on the first flight out."

She ran into Russell's office. "I'm so sorry, but a family emergency just came up. My brother's been stabbed in the chest nine times and he might not make it."

"Alright, take as much time as you need."

~CSI~

Within eight hours, Morgan, Elaine, Conrad, and Caroline arrived at the hospital and met up with Emily.

As the five of them walked to Aaron's room, the nurse stopped him.

"Sorry, visiting hours are over," she said.

Morgan pulled out her work credentials. "I'm CSI Brody, and that man in there is my brother. Let me see him."

"How about the rest of you?"

"I'm Undersheriff Brody, Aaron's father," Conrad said.

"I'm Agent Prentiss, Aaron's wife," Emily replied.

The nurse let the five of them into the room.

"Aaron, it's me, Morgan," the blond said to her brother. "How are you feeling?"

~CSI~

Sara had invited Greg and the kids to come over to the house for dinner/breakfast. She was cooking beef in the crockpot and had thrown in some vegetables. In her hurry to be on time to work, she had forgotten to plug in the crockpot and when she got home from work in the morning, a nasty surprise would greet her.

Sara and Grissom left Nicky and Katelyn with their neighbors, then drove to the lab to check in with Russell on the current case.

After working hard for eight hours, she was more than looking forward to going home and enjoying some mouth-watering beef and vegetable stew.

The three CSIs pulled into the Grissom driveway and saw that the neighbor was standing outside with the three Sanders children.

The neighbor headed home, and Grissom was searching in his pocket for the house key. Sara told her husband that hers were already out and that she would unlock the door.

But when she opened the door and stepped inside, she was not greeted by the smell of warm stew. Instead, the house smelled like no one had been home all day.

"No!" she said, running into the kitchen, but throwing her gun and credentials on the table first.

She saw that the crockpot was dark and cold. She felt so bad, knowing that she had one of her co-workers over.

"It's ok Sara," Grissom reassured his wife. "The stew can cook while we sleep and be ready later tonight."

Sara went into the pantry and began looking for other options to make for dinner.

"I'm going shopping after work tomorrow, so there isn't a lot of food in the house right now. Greg, I'm so sorry."

"Sara, it's ok. I made that same mistake for Morgan on our tenth anniversary. I accidently didn't turn the crockpot on when I left for work that day. When I came home, the food was cold and uncooked."

Sara pulled out the recipe book and opened to the page on pancakes. She had just enough ingredients to make a large batch, and it would be enough food until she went to the store. She cracked an egg into a bowl and whisked it well. Combining it with milk, she added the dry ingredients.

"You're doing it wrong," Grissom pointed out. Kayla, Jim, and Kathleen looked at their dad's boss, who was looking slightly ticked off, but was keeping his anger hidden.

Sara was not in the mood to yell at her husband. They had some disagreements in the past, but so far, their marriage was great after almost three years.

"How am I doing it wrong?" she asked. "Tell me, Mr. Genius, since you seem to know how to do it correctly."

"You're supposed to do the dry ingredients first, then add the milk and egg. That's how my mother always made pancakes."

"Oh, so now you bring up your mother? Didn't she die like five years ago?"

"Don't bring my mother into this!"

"OH MY GOSH, YOU ARE SUCH A MOMMA'S BOY!"

"DON'T YOU DARE BRING UP MY MOTHER!"

"YOU BROUGHT UP YOUR MOTHER INTO THIS CONVERSATION!"

"Stop it, both of you! This fighting just brings up memories, bad ones of when my parents used to fight before they died!" Greg said, trying to break up the quarrel.

But Sara and Grissom weren't done their argument.

"You know what?" the brunette said. "I'll make them myself!"

She made sure the batter was thick, then poured them onto the griddle. Everything seemed like it was going back to normal.

But it wasn't.

After a couple minutes, Grissom spoke in a normal tone of voice. He smelled the dinner, and thought it was done.

"Are those pancakes ready?" he asked.

"Yea, they should be, I just checked them," Sara replied.

But his temper wouldn't cool down. Taking the pancake turner from her, he cut the pancakes, every one of them, perfectly in half. Raw batter oozed out the center of the pancakes onto the griddle.

Greg couldn't believe what his boss had done. Sara's anger fueled. She snatched the turner and smacked Grissom on his behind with the flipper, then threw it onto the counter, almost knocking over a glass full of hot tea.

"Make them yourself since you learned so much from that mother of yours!" Sara snapped, stomping off down the hall into the bedroom, slamming the door behind her.

~CSI~

Greg watched his co-worker leave the room. He was worried what would happen at the lab tonight when he went to work. Would Sara and Grissom get a divorce? Where would Nick and Katelyn live? Would the couple fight all throughout shift and affect how everyone worked?

~CSI~

When it was time to leave for shift that night, Greg had accidently helped himself to some food. He noticed that Sara and Grissom looked as though the quarrel never happened.

"Can we just put it behind us?" Grissom asked on the way to work.

"Of course," Sara replied. "I'm sorry, I was just really tired."

"I forgive you, sweetheart, let's hope that it's not going to happen again."

TBC...


	7. Stalker

"Catherine, you know I would never-" Nick began. His wife just glared at him, not wanting an explanation. His cheek was still stinging from where she had slapped him.

"I never thought you would cheat on me, Nick, especially with her," Catherine snapped. "When I came home and saw you with her, it said it all."

Sara was standing in the archway between the hallway and living room wearing nothing but one of Nick's shirts. However, she had borrowed a pair of Catherine's shorts, but they weren't long enough, so the shirt covered them.

Catherine pushed past Sara and walked into the bedroom. The redhead picked up her two newborn children. Her son was put into a carrier that fit around her shoulders and her daughter was put in her carseat. Lindsay was following right behind her mother.

"Get out of the way Nicholas Stokes," Catherine said, her voice as cold as ice. She couldn't even look at the woman she had called her best friend for years. "I'm taking MY children with me. They're no longer yours."

Catherine walked out to her car and made sure that her newborn son and daughter were secure, then drove off to Sara and Grissom's house.

~CSI~

"Wait here," the redhead said to her oldest child. Catherine got out of her car and walked up to the front door, ringing the doorbell.

Grissom opened the door, but was cut off from speaking by his assistant supervisor kissing him and backing him up against the wall.

"I'm happily married to Sara," he said. "I'm not going to cheat on her."

"Well, I'm about to contradict that. I think it's fair that I get to kiss and make out with you since your wife is with my husband right now," Catherine said. "Your wife is cheating on you."

"She what?" Grissom exclaimed. "No, she wouldn't, she loves me."

"And I loved Nick, but when I came home from the store, I found your wife wearing nothing but my husband's shirt, sitting next to him on the couch, cuddling with him."

"No, she can't be cheating."

Catherine kissed him again, and he kissed her back.

He looked her in the eyes. "Are you sure about this? Because we can never take it back."

"I wanted to be loved, even if it's only for a few minutes."

~CSI~

However, before Grissom and Catherine's session could begin, his cell phone rang.

"Hold on, I got to take this," he said. After a minute, he came back to the living room. "Cath, we got to go to work. Five women brutally strangled to death and their bodies were left in trash cans."

They traveled to work, and once they arrived at the lab, they received stares from Morgan and Greg.

Sara had been sitting in the conference room with Nick, and was horrified to see her best friend with her husband.

No, Sara thought. Grissom is cheating on me.

As Greg began discussing the case, he couldn't help but notice the anger Catherine had towards Nick.

After Greg finished talking, Grissom and Catherine left the room. Nick quietly followed behind.

In Grissom's office, Catherine was crying. She figured her marriage to Nick was over. She needed to repair her relationship with him fast, or their future would not be looking good.

"What happened at your house stays between us, ok?" Catherine said to Grissom.

"Agreed," he replied.

However, they didn't know that Nick was outside, hearing the entire conversation.

After Catherine stepped out of the office, Nick entered and grabbed Grissom by his collar.

"YOU SLEPT WITH MY WIFE, DIDN'T YOU?" Nick demanded angrily.

"Who cares if I did; you slept with mine," Grissom snapped.

"I never slept with Sara. Catherine only thinks I did."

"I want to know what happened."

"Sara told me that you guys had another fight. She came over to my house. I saw that she was crying, so I invited her in. I asked her if she wanted anything to drink. She had wanted grape juice, so when I came back into the living room I slipped on a wet spot on the floor, and spilt the juice all over her shirt. I told her she could borrow one of my shirts. When she came out, that's when Catherine came home and thought I was cheating on her."

"We need to fix this now," Grissom replied. "Otherwise, there will be two broken houses and a lot of fighting during shift."

The two CSIs forgave each other, then went out into the conference room to look for their wives.

Catherine saw the two men enter the room.

When Nick tried to get closer to her, she almost pulled out her weapon.

"Cath, don't shoot me," he said.

"Give me one good reason why," she snapped.

"Because Nick never slept with Sara," Grissom said.

"You're on his side now?"

Nick explained the entire story to Catherine, and after he finished, she gave Sara a look that said, _I'm sorry. Forgive me._

The brunette was already forgiving her best friend. The girls did not want their friendship to end, causing broken houses and bad work days.

~CSI~

He waited for her to come home. He had researched her on the Internet and learned all about her. He knew her name, where she was from and where she worked. He knew she was a level 2 CSI at the Las Vegas Crime Lab. He knew she was married to Supervisor Gilbert Grissom and had two children, a son and a daughter.

He found her two-story house on a quiet street about five blocks away from the Lab. He could see her holding one of her children and was cuddling the baby. Her curtains were partially open, and he could see right into her house. However, he had to be careful. She had a gun and would kill him if she saw him looking into her house.

He needed to go back to his house and admire his collection of pictures. After reaching the house in five minutes, he shut and locked the door behind him. He walked over to the wall containing the pictures. Some were just disturbing and slightly sexual, including one of him strangling her in a bed.

He needed some more time to plan how he was going to get ahold of Sara. He decided to become a babysitter, which would allow him to study the house and make an escape plan.

~CSI~

A week after finding the Grissom household, Sara's stalker handed in a résumé to his victim. The family was needing a babysitter, and Sara was impressed with the young man's accomplishments.

"You're hired," Sara said to the man. "You can start working tomorrow."

The man smiled. "Thank you Mrs. Grissom, I really appreciate it."

"No problem."

~CSI~

The next day, the young man arrived on time, and was prepared to work. After the couple left for work, he began admiring Sara's things. He saw school awards on the wall, pictures of her friends and deceased family, and some of Grissom's entomology awards.

The man picked up one of Sara's favorite perfumes, imagining her tied up and having the smell of the perfume filling the room.

He saw her drawer full of underwear and her closet containing an extra vest and many dresses.

The stalker was going nuts. He needed to get Sara sooner rather than later. Once she was in his hands, he wasn't going to let his prize get away.

He had part one of his plan formed. But he would need chloroform and a rag to begin...


	8. Threat

She looked so helpless. She was just tied to a chair, unable to do anything. Her hands had been handcuffed behind her and a piece of duct tape was covering her mouth.

"Hello Sara, it's been too long," his cold voice responded. Her stalker had captured her and brought her to a dark and unknown place. She wanted to be back home with her husband and children. "You're going to say a final goodbye to your family because you're never going to see any of them again."

Ripping the tape off her mouth, all Sara could do was glare. If she wasn't tied up, this man would be in handcuffs and being led back to the Lab.

She watched him pick up the phone and dial Grissom, who answered right away.

"Sara?" he asked. "Where are you?"

"Somewhere close," the stalker's voice responded. "Someplace that you will never locate."

"Who is this?"

"The man who's been babysitting your children for the last week. I have your wife."

"You touch one hair on her head and I will kill you."

"Those are some brave words. But I don't really care. You're not going to get Sara back any time soon. I guess you can talk for a minute."

"Grissom, please, find me," she begged into the phone. "He knows everything about me. About you, our marriage, and our children. He's been stalking me since before he applied to watch Nicky and Katelyn."

"I will get you out of there, sweetheart. We're going to find you."

"I have to go, but before I do, I love you."

"I love you too," he said.

The man's voice came back on the line. "Good luck finding her. Because you never will."

~CSI~

Finlay, nearing the end of her pregnancy, was planning a little something. Having gone out to the pharmacy earlier in the day while Russell went to work, she bought some pills. Little pills that were so easy to grind up and slip into a drink. She had learned this trick from Sara after she had done the same thing to Grissom.

Julie took two pills and set them on the counter, using the bottom of the glass salt shaker to break them into a white powder. She knew her husband wanted to have a glass of wine at dinner, so she dumped the powder into the glass and poured the wine. She made sure the powder was not visible.

She had barely set the spiked glass on the table when Russell came through the door. Pretending as though everything was fine, she greeted her husband warmly, then set dinner down in front of him. She kept noticing that throughout the meal, he was barely drinking his wine. It was like he smelled something odd, and he thought that Finlay was trying to drug him.

But by the end of dinner, Finlay noticed that the glass was empty.

_Just need to wait 15 minutes for it to take effect,_ she thought. Her husband looked a bit dizzy.

"Finlay, you trying to kill me? Because I can tell that you put something in my glass. Something smelled off," he said.

"Of course not, D.B," Julie replied. "Sara did the exact same thing to Grissom. He never noticed a thing until he broke their clock after he pushed her up against a wall. It was a harmless drug."

"So you did drug me."

"It's only going to be for a little while. If Sara did the same thing to Grissom, then how is he not dead?"

Russell thought about it for a minute. But he did notice that he feeling a bit energetic.

Finally, the 15 minutes passed, and Julie noticed that her husband was suffering the symptoms with being drugged.

He only had one thing on his mind: his wife.

He picked her up off the couch and pushed her against a wall, kissing her.

~CSI~

Jim and Kathleen were rough-housing, or as Kayla called it, wrestling. Kat proved to be slightly stronger than her brother. But today, Kat would get in huge trouble for something she would always regret.

Kayla had taken her two younger siblings to the library three weeks ago to get a book for each of them- Kayla getting _Twilight, _Jim getting _Diary of a Wimpy Kid: Dog Days_, and Kathleen getting _Junie B. Jones and Her Big Fat Mouth_. The books were due, and both Kayla and Jim had finished their books and were wanting to get the sequels. Kayla was also going to get the _Twilight_ movie. But her sister hadn't even gotten halfway through the book. Kat had begun to practice her printing, using marker, pencil, colored pencil, pen, and Sharpie. Morgan had caught her youngest daughter writing on a case file folder's front page in Sharpie, and Kat had been spanked and grounded for the day.

Kat had been in the bedroom she shared with Jim, writing her name on paper. But then, she had a plan: she wasn't done with the book and she knew exactly how she could keep the book for longer than three weeks.

"Kayla, are you going to the library today?" Kat heard her mother ask.

"Yea, I'm going," Kayla replied. "Jim! Kathleen! I'm leaving!"

"Coming Kay," Jim said, using his older sister's nickname.

"Kat?" the oldest Sanders' daughter asked.

"I'm not done with the book," she replied. "And it's mine."

Kayla, Jim, and Morgan came into the room, and found Kat holding the book close to her.

"Your book? It belongs to the library," Jim said.

"No, it's mine."

Morgan was becoming concerned. "What do you mean, Kat? Let me see."

She took the book from her youngest daughter and gasped in horror. The pages of the book had been covered in Kathleen's blue ink handwriting.

Morgan's face changed from horror to upset.

"Kathleen Julie Sanders, you are a naughty girl! Why would you do such a thing?"

"It's MY book, and I like it that way."

"Your book?" Kayla screeched. "That's a book from the library, checked out on my card! I will be the one responsible for your mistake!"

"I'm only 7, Kay! It's not like I know everything is right or wrong!"

"You know that I'm going to get in a lot of trouble and it's all your fault!"

"Enough!" Morgan snapped. "Here's 20 dollars. Kayla, take your brother and sister to the library and explain the situation. That should be enough money to cover the damage."

Kayla took the money from her mom. Jim immediately ran out of the room and put his shoes on as Kat was lead down the hall.

After everyone had their shoes on, Kayla begin walking her siblings to the library. Her anger towards Kat was fuming.

The oldest Sanders' daughter was nervous what the librarian would say as she handed her the damaged book and explained the situation.

TBC...


End file.
